


Runaway

by dannyphantom4208



Category: None - Fandom
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-27
Updated: 2016-07-02
Packaged: 2018-05-09 19:17:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 19,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5552096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dannyphantom4208/pseuds/dannyphantom4208
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Four best friends Shane, Jasper, Gerard, and Danny growing up in the late 50's early 60's. All have very different lives at home, with different problems. They are in a a surprisingly good local band, and are the laughing stocks of Du Maine High school because they are so different. But seen by many as inseparable. But what happens when one is taken from them. How will they get them back, and what are the consequences</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

They were on their way back from a show in denver that they had taken their now 13 year old daughter to see. They had left her twin brother Chris at home, because he wanted to spend his birthday with his brothers and the gang. The girl was sleeping in the back seat of the old broken down Volkswagen. The father and mother in the front were talking about how fast the two had grown up compared to their two older brothers John and Marc, and how much they had enjoyed taking her to the show and seeing her face light up. They were all so happy in those last few moments. They came up over a hill heading toward a train coming down the tracks. The father started to hit the brakes to slow before coming to the tracks, but the car continued to roll. It kept getting faster and faster. By this time the girl had woken up both from the feeling of the rapid acceleration and her parents panicked voices. She managed to murmur, still groggy from sleep.   

“What’s going on, what’s wr-”

Danny jolted awake screaming and gasping for breath. She felt a hand on her shoulder and the light turned on. The blinding light blocked her view of her brother but she recognized his voice immediately.

“Hey, hey Danny it’s okay. It was just another dream.”

Marc said. She looked at him, desperately trying to hold back a flood of tears.

“Was it another dream about… um” She nodded.

She knew what he was talking about. All of them did, they just hated to mention it. Of all of them Danny was the most scarred, she was in the car with them when it happened. She had watch her mother die in front of her will she was trapped under the car. So none of them ever mentioned it again. She saw something move out of the corner of her eye, and saw her eldest brother John standing at the door.

“You okay kiddo?” he asked.

She nodded “Yeah i guess.” her voice wavering. “Do you think i could go over to Shane's house. I'm not gonna be able to go back to sleep tonight.”

She looked at him with pleading eyes. She was the youngest of them all and they all kind of felt a little sorry for her.

“Yeah, i guess so.” he finally said after a few seconds. “Just be careful, it's the middle of the night.”

John went back to bed, and Marc hugged her and went back also.

 

She went over to her dresser and pulled on an old, tattered shirt and put on the first pair of jeans she found. She got to her door and remembered that she needed shoes and a jacket. She found her beat up Doc Martens and pulled them on she threw on an old gray jacket and started heading out. On the way out she grabbed her army bag That she put by the front door and stuffed it with tissues and her music book. She walked out the door and took in the cold colorado air. She started walking to Shane's house. Noticing that somehow everything was way creepier in her neighborhood at 4 in the morning. As she walked, she constantly looked over her shoulder in fear that the rival gang would come and jump her again. Every sound she heard she would walk faster to the point where she was almost running.When she got to his house she pulled out her key to his garage and went inside. His parents gave them all keys so they could come over any time. His parents were the only ones who fully supported them. She heaved herself onto one of the beanbags on the floor, out of breath. She pulled out her book and newspaper. She would read the newspaper to get inspiration for her songs, and she started reading. She read the headline and stared at it for a few moments. Out of all the newspapers that John kept in the house, she had picked up this one. In an instant she was overcome with a wave of emotion and threw the paper at her feet. She decided to just go to sleep and not think of it. She was usually pretty good at controlling her emotions, but when it came to what happened that night, she couldn't handle it.

 

She woke up to see Shane, Gerard, and Jasper preparing their instruments for practice.“Well finally you're up” She heard Gerard say as she rubbed her eyes.

“Yeah, finally. I was starting to think you had died over there” Shane remarked.

“Yeah, unfortunately she's still alive.” jasper said with a huge grin.

She rolled her eyes and shoved her giant notebook off her lap.

“Here, let me help you up” Gerard came over and help her out of the beanbag.

She stood up and a jacket fell to the ground. She was sure it wasn't hers.

“Oh sorry,” gerard said flushing a little pink, “You were cold so i gave you my jacket.”

He said as he bent down to pick it up. he stood back up and saw Danny's face ‘Hey, are you okay?” he asked sounding concerned.

“Yeah. Of course what do you mean.” She quickly replied.

He studied her for a minute and she waited for a response.

“Nothing. It’s just you usually don't sleep here, that's what he usually does - ” he said pointing to Jasper. “and you don't stay here unless something's really bad of.”

She was thinking of a response. Finally she said

“Just couldn't sleep, i’m fine.” She said giving them a big grin hoping that it would convince them that everything was perfectly fine.

They stared at her for a few seconds.

“Okay, Just making sure.” He replied, returning the smile.

“Oh, here's your guitar, i got it ready for you when you woke up so we could start.” Shane said handing her, her red and black guitar.

“Thanks.” she replied taking it from him.

She slung the low hanging guitar over her shoulder, grabbed a pics, and plugged it into the amp. She played a few chords to get in the right position.

“You ready?!” Shane asked excitedly.

“Of course, let’s do it.” she replied matching his enthusiasm.

As they started to play, the music filled her ears and everything that had happened over night, all the tears and sobs, faded away.

  
  
  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

Gerard was jarred awake by the shrill sound of his alarm. He slammed his hand on the snooze button, begging it to let him sleep more. Five minutes later the noise stopped him from going back to sleep. he pushed the button and looked at the time. the clock read 8:20.

“Damn it.” he said to no one in particular “ I'm gonna be late!”

He jumped out of bed pulled on the pair of jeans he found on the floor of his unorganized room. He went to find a shirt but found none in his dresser.

“Thats right Danny spilled soda on it yesterday.” he said, cursing under his breath. “That was my last clean shirt.”

He went to check the laundry room to see if his mom had done the laundry.

“No…of course not”

He threw the clothes in the washer and mashed the button to start the machine. His mom only did laundry when she could. Ever since she divorced her husband she was always working to support both of them. But come to think of it he hadn't heard his mother leave the house this morning. He walked around the house both looking for a clean shirt and for his mother. He found his mother on the couch with paper on the floor and a pen in her hand. She had falling asleep trying to add up all the bills. he picked up the papers and put them on the coffe table made of old plywood. he had made that for his mother as a present years ago because she was constantly complaining about not having one, and it wasn't like his horrible excuse a s a father was gonna get her one. He continued his search for a shirt and decided to settle for his favourite jacket, he could borrow one from jasper or shane if he wanted. He pulled on his Converse and his ammo bag. He kissed his mom on the forehead and left.

 

He stepped outside and chills went down his spine.

“Its freezing.” He murmured to himself.

He stood there for a moment and looked out off the old porch rubbing his hands together to keep warm. He ran over to shane's both to get out of the cold and to try and warm up. He got halfway and decided to stop running. He saw Danny's brothers chris and marc with some members of their gang. He gave them a quick smile and they glared back at him. He had always wondered why they didn't like him. He didn't think he had done anything wrong, and they don't seem  to hate the others, just him. They were even okay with Jasper, and his brother was in the rival gang. They turned a corner and he shrugged it off and kept walking. He walked past an old neighborhood park that they all used to play at as kids. The swings that were once new and shiny were rusty and falling apart and the monkey bars were so rusted that i he touched them they would most likely turn to dust.

He turned the corner and pulled out the key to the garage. When he came in Shane was getting the mics and amps hooked up and testing them. But Shane was being quieter than usual. Shane is always super loud when testing the mics, but this time he was almost whispering.

“Hey why are yo-” Shane interrupted him mid-sentence

“Shhh….” “What?!” he responded lowering his voice.

“Whats wrong”. Shane pointed to the bean bag chair.

He saw an arm hanging off the side of it. He walked over to the person laying in the chair, and saw Danny sleeping, with her songbook over her lap and a newspaper over one of her feets. He always thought that it was a weird habit that she read the newspaper to get ideas, but it got the job done. he picked up the newspaper and saw the headline. “ _Mother and Father, killed in Train crash.”_ He sighed. And remembered the chill that went through him when he was told that she was in a fatal crash that should have killed her.  He looked down at her and saw she was slightly shivering so he took of his sweatshirt and put it around her shoulders. He asked shane to borrow a shirt because it was actually quite cold in the garage and he wasn't gonna take his sweater back from Danny. He pulled the shirt over his head, and grabbed his shiny red and white fender bass and plugged it in and quietly tuned and tested it.  A few minutes later Jasper barged in guns blazing.

“Why do you guys make me come in here so effing early!? Like seriously who wants to be here at 8:30?!”

“Shhh.. Danny's sleeping, And you weren't here at 8:30, you were here at 8:35.” Gerard said with a smirk . Jasper glared at him and paused a moment.

“Shut up Pendleton, I wasn't talking to you” he said throwing the wrapper from a candy bar he was eating.

He sat down at his drums. Gerard picked up the candy wrapper and threw it back at him. Jasper looked up and smirked.

“I'm sorry, i must not have seen that right, did you just throw that back at me”

A smile spread across Gerards and Jasper's face as Jasper pulled out a drumstick and threw it at him, he ducked and it hit the metal trash can behind them, making a loud thunder like sound that echoed around the garage. Danny moved and Gerard remembered that she was sleeping so he stopped the trash can from ringing and returned to tuning his bass.

Once they all settled down. Gerard heard Danny shove the book onto the floor and he went over to help her up out of the beanbag. He helped her up and his jacket fell to the ground. He bent down to pick up his jacket that had fallen.When he stood back up he saw that Danny's eyes were a little red like she had been crying.

“What's wrong, are you okay” he asked, even though he kind of already knew what was wrong.

She told him that nothing was wrong and he left it at that. She doesn't like to talk about her parents at all so he didn't want to pry.  He went back over to his spot and picked up his bass. They all got set up.

“You ready.’ Shane said excitedly. Danny replied and they started practice.


	3. Chapter 3

Chp 3.

“jasper…… Jasper….” He heard a voice say through a haze. “Jasper!” 

He snapped awake to see his older brother Jeffery standing above him. 

“God, what do you want it 5 in the morning?!” 

“Get out of my bed.” his brother was starting to get angry. 

“Don't get your panties all in a wad, it's my bed too” Jasper snapped back

He saw the flash of anger behind his brothers eyes and instantly regretted his choice of words. 

“Get up!!” 

His brother grabbed him by his shirt and dragged him out of the room and closed the door. He sat out in the cold hallway shocked that his brother had just done that. His brother was usually angry, but never to the point where he would throw him out of bed. He planted his feet on the cold floor and heaved himself up. He went to take a step to go into the living room, but stopped. He felt something sticky on the bottom of his foot. He ran his hand along the wall and flipped the light switch. On the floor he saw a small trickle of blood that had come from his brother. He must have gotten into another fight with the other gang. Typical. His brother could be really hostile when he drank. And he could smell the alcohol on his breath when he yelled at him. He continued toward the couch unaffected by the blood. 

“And they wonder why i always sleep at shane's.” He said to himself. He snagged a pillow from another chair and collapsed onto the couch. 

It only seemed like minutes later when he was woken by his little brother. 

“Jas! Jas, I think Jefferys hurt” Timothy said, trying to contain himself.

He was a great deal younger than the both of them so he didn't understand what had happened.

“Should i check on him?” Timothy asked heading towards the bedroom door. “No!!” Jasper quickly said as he ran across the room and grabbed his brothers and just before he opened the door. 

“Timothy, look at me -” He looked at his brother and saw the worry and confusion in his face. “You never… never open that door when Jeffrey is like that okay?!” His brother gave him a blank look. 

“Do you understand me!?!”He saw the tears forming in his brother's eyes as he said this. 

“I just want to make sure Jefferys okay.” His brother said trying to hold back his sobs. 

“Jeffery is fine, he just wants to be left alone, okay.” 

He looked at his brother desperately hoping he understood what he is trying to get at. His brother nodded and wiped a tear from his eye with the back of his hand. 

“Okay.” he replied. “good” 

Jasper said leading him back to bed. He tucked his brother back in bed and turned out the light. 

“Why are you acting so weird Jas?” Jasper turned to his brother. 

“i just don't you to get hurt.” His brother looked at him confused. 

“why would he hurt me?” Timothy asked.

He turned around and started to think of what to say, but couldn't think of anything. 

“goodnight timmy” he said instead and closed the door.

He knew the answer but didn't know how to explain to his brother that his brother was a drunk. When his brother first started drinking he was 16 and Jasper was 13. He would come home and beat Jasper up if he bothered him, so he didn't want that happening to his brother. He had always tried to protect his brother from Jeffery. Jeffery had blamed Timothy for their mother's death, because she died in childbirth with Timmy. So he would always pick on him. So he always tried to keep Timmy out of his way when he got like this. It would just make things a whole lot worse, both with Jeffery and his father.

He got about 2 hours of sleep after that, but was woken by the sound of his alarm clock going off. 

“Shit!” 

He jumped up and ran to his room and quietly opened the door.  _ Oh good. _ His alarm clock hadn't waken Jeffery up. He pushed the off button and grabbed the pair of jeans off the floor and slipped them on. He checked the clock, it read 8:28. He quickly slipped on his only pair of shoes that he would ever wear. His red and black Vans. He grabbed his drum sticks and a candy bar before he left And ran out the door towards Shane's house. He got a quarter of the way there and realized that it was freezing. He turned around quickly snagged the first jacket he saw and ran out again He hated that they practice on the weekends so early to, but it's not like he wasn't going to show up. He reached in his pockets and begged that the key was there. He felt around and finally pulled out the small shiny key. He opened the door and immediately started complaining about the time. Gerard gave his usual snarky come back, but didnt hear dannys. 

“Wheres Danny, i mean, surely she's not later than me.” Shane pointed to the chair and he saw her sleeping. 

“Has she been here all night?” He asked. 

“I assume so, she was here when i came in.”

Jasper was slightly shocked that she had slept there. She's usually not the one to sleep there, that's usually what he himself does quite often. Even Gerard sleeps there more than Danny. He went to sit at his drums and he and Gerard got into their usual fight. he picked up a drumstick and tossed it at him. He missed and it hit the trash can immediately he stopped and got to preparing his drums. He had finished cleaning his drums and helped shane out with the mics. After what felt like forever waiting, and holding back the temptation to throw a drumstick at Danny to get her to wake up, she finally woke up. Once everyone was ready he picked up his drumsticks and started counting off.


	4. Chapter 4

“Shane, Shane honey. Wake up” Shane's mom was shaking him awake.

“Hey-” He was able to murmur, still half asleep. “ what's wrong?” 

“Nothing's really wrong, but Danny is asleep in the garage, and i thought you might want to check to see if she was okay.”

“Okay, I’ll handle it.” He said throwing off the blankets. 

He put some clothes on and went into the garage. Sure enough, she was laying on the beanbag. He pulled up another bean bag and sat next to her. She moved and looked up at him. 

“Hey, um not that it's a problem or anything, but why are you here.” She stared at him for a second then took a deep breath as if she was gonna say something. 

“Ummm…” he studied her face, she was obviously thinking of something to say. She finally said something after felt like a million years. 

“I just… had… umm…. just couldn't…ummm…i” he could see she was tired and she looked like she had been crying a little bit. 

“It… Its okay, ill let you sleep, you can tell me later okay.” He smiled at her and let her fall back asleep. He wiped a stray tear from her cheek and stood up

As he turned around his sisters Deborah and Carla had come into the garage screaming bloody murder 

“Hey!” He yelled at them trying to be quiet. “What the heck is going on here.” He asked them, trying to not cuss in front of them. 

“Deb stole my guitar and i was in the middle of an awesome song!” Carla whined. “Well if you didn't suck i wouldn't have taken it from you” Deborah shot back.

She threw her plastic microphone at Carla and Carla screamed. 

“Okay you two let's go inside and sort this rock-star against rock-star thing out.” Shane said having enough of their screaming and complaining. He grabbed their hands and dragged them into the house. He grabbed carlas plastic guitar from Deborah and gave it back to her.  He loved how his sisters were taking after him. Danny had a big part in this though. The girls love Danny, they treat her like their older sister. They always say to their parents that they wanted to be like Danny when they grow up, she is kinda like their role model. They even started trying to play guitar and dressing in black to be like her. Which they all think is kinda cute, because they are only 5 and 7. 

“Why is Danny in the garage? Can we see her?!” They both asked.

Shane tried to explain to them why they couldn't see her without them asking more questions 

“No, you can't, She not feeling well okay” 

“Well maybe i can play guitar for her to make her feel better.” Carla said her face lighting up. 

“Why would you do that, do you want her to puke.” Deborah said. 

“Like she's gonna actually like that crap you sing” Carla shouted trying to get the best of her sister.

_ I do not need this now.  _ “Just go back to doing whatever you were doing and maybe she will come in later.” They seemed content with that. 

He walked into the kitchen where his mom was cooking something and his dad was reading the paper. Perfect family portrait right. He wished that desperately. Ever since he told his parents that he was bisexual, everything was different. His dad stopped talking to him for a while, and wouldn’t even look at him. And him and his mom's conversations, what used to be fun and flowed well. Became awkward and forced. He didn't understand why it was such a big deal for them. Even Jasper’s Dad didn't freak out this much when he told him. But then again, Jasper never really ever talked to his dad. So there wasn't that much of a difference. Also after that his mother and Father started to fight a lot more than usual. They started to fight like they did before the girls were born. But when the girls were born they tried not to expose them to that. Sometimes it would get so bad that his mom would send him over to the Strykers house to stay the night. That's how he got closer to Danny than he did to the rest of the band.  He kind of new that Danny was in the garage because of something with her parents. And he was surprised she didn't take it worse. It was almost a week after the incident that she came back to practice and pretended like nothing happened. they were all kind of freaked out by that because Danny and her parents were extremely close, and her parents were great people. But Danny handled things a lot differently than other people. so he kind of left it at that. 

He decided that being in the kitchen was just making Everything more awkward, so he got up and went into the garage to start setting up. He walked in and made his way around the maze of instruments to the mics and amps. He was starting to test them when he heard the lock jingle. He turned to see Gerard pulling the door shut. A few minutes later Jasper came in almost screaming as usual. It was like he had no idea he was in a confined garage that echoed everything. 

_ And so it starts.  _ “Hey buzzkill.” Jasper said. “Why are you so quiet.” 

Shane pointed to the chair and hoped that he would quiet down. Of course, he didn't. 

“Whats wrong with you today, even if she was here you wouldn't be this quiet.” Gerard mentioned. 

“I know” he started to say “but-” He heard Danny get up and gerard immediately went to help her up. He looked over to Jasper to see if he was listening, but as he was fifteen minutes ago, he continued his air drumming. He was fighting back the urge to rip the drum sticks out of his hands and break them because of the non-stop movement but that would just delay things. He smiled at danny and handed her guitar. She quickly took it and turned to him, ready to go. he checked to see if everyone was ready and turned the mics on.


	5. Chapter 5

Practice ended at 5:30, and instead of going home right away. Danny thought that she would walk around town for a while. She would normally walk with Gerard or Jasper but today she decided to lone it. Which usually wasn't such a good idea. Her brother were in the gang that got jumped a lot because the rivals thought that they were so much better because they are rich and live on the good side of town. She understood the risk of getting jumped, but took the chance anyway. Maybe she would run into Marc who worked at the only gas station in town. Thats where she would go. She hadn't talked to Marc a lot lately, he was too busy with his new girlfriend to bother with his kid sister.

She turned the corner and saw the station. She was walking when she heard the squeak of tires of someone who took off to fast. _Oh no._ She didn't need to turn around to know who it was, but she did anyways. Of course it was Ronnie. Ronnie was the head of the other gang and a real douche bag from Danny's perspective. He always thought he was so cool and had to prove it by beating up anybody who wasn't like him. She walked faster almost to the point that she was running, but if they caught her running then they would definitely go after her. And that would give him a sense of power, someone running away from him. And she was not about to give him the pleasure. She put her head down trying to hide her face and kept walking. _If i can just get to the station they won't bother me._ She kept saying to herself. They drove past her.

“Whew” she said as she started to brush the hair out her face. But it seemed just as she did that they stopped the car and backed up. They pulled up to her.

“Hey!” Ronnie yelled at her.

Danny looked up at him“What do you want.” she said articulating each word.”

“Aren't you that bitch who thought she could get away from us last time?!” He replied back.

She stared at him for a second, confused to what they were getting at. But then she remembered. Last week they had ganged up on her. After a while of chasing her, they had finally cornered her. After what she was sure was going to be her last few moments alive. John had come around the corner. She remember the fear that went through her. The only thing worse that people ganging up on you, was John mad. And of course he had brought the rest of the gang. After that, he yelled at her for going out alone and made her promise not to do it again. She was not prepared for that whole thing again. “I have no idea what you're talking about.” she finally said hoping that they would leave it at that, of course they didn't.

“Yeah, yeah. I think you are.” he said starting to get out of the car.

She froze, trying to think of the best escape plan that won't get her killed or worse, yelled at by John.

“Well this time you aren't gonna get away from me, you little-” He pulled out a knife and started walking quickly toward her as the rest of the people in his car started to get up. She frantically looked around and saw a rock by the chainlink fence she was walking along. She picked it up and hurled it at his head. He ducked and it hit his new shiny car. He turned around and saw the dent in his car. She saw him turned red as he started to turn around. Before he could completely turn around, she was gone. She ran as faster than she thought she ever had. She turned around to see four guys running after her. She ran faster. _The stations right there, i just need to make it to the station._  She got to the gas pumps and ran inside the small store. Great Marc was working today. He looked up and saw Danny out of breath.

“What the hell happened to you.” He said coming over to her.

She pointed out the window, to out of breath to speak.

“Were those dicks giving you a hard time?” He asked starting to get a little angry. “They were giving me more than a hard time.” She said. “This time they pulled out their knifes. Probably because i put a dent in their car.” Marc turned to her incredulous.

“You what!”

“What, i aimed for his head, It's not my fault he ducked.”

“Well of course he would have ducked, what did you expect him to do.” He asked.

“I don't know, i honestly thought he was to stupid to duck. And it's not like it would have done much damage. He doesn't even have anything in his head anyway.”

“Danny that could have killed him.” He replied back.

“Oh no, what a great loss to society that would have been.” She said sarcastically.

He rolled his eyes at her. But she knew that he agreed with her. They both looked out the window to see if they were still there. They were.

“Great now their gonna stay out there all day waiting for us to come out” Marc said, sounding pissed. “Why were you even out, John told you not to come alone anymore.”

“Well i'm sorry that i wanted to come see you.” She almost yelled back. “And can you not mention this to John… please.” He looked at her and understood.

“Yeah… sure, but next time don't throw a rock at them.” he said.

“Yeah yeah… okay mom.” She said waving him off. She went over to the window and waved at the guys through the window. They knew that they couldn't come into the store and took that to her advantage. Even though they would probably kick their asses later. It was totally worth it now.


	6. Chapter 6

Jasper and Gerard decided to walk home together.

“Where did Danny go” Gerard asked.

“Psht. You are asking the wrong person, no one knows what goes through that crazy bitches head.” Jasper said snickering.

“Im serious” Gerard said, sounding worried. “Do you think she's okay, last time she went home alone she was almost killed.” Jasper looked at him funny

“Since when did you get so protective of her. You didn't used to be like this whiny and annoying.” Gerard looked at the ground, his face turned pink.

“Well i just want to make sure shes okay, thats all.” Jasper narrowed his eyes. “Okay dude seriously what is going on with you, you aren’t usually this

pathetic.”He stopped in his tracks and turned to Gerard who continued to look at the ground

“Hey… my face is up here Gerard” He said snapping. “get it together man.”

Gerard looked at him and Jasper saw something in his eyes that he couldn't quite make out.

“What is going on with you. I'm starting to get worried.” Gerard shrugged and kept walking.

“No no no no….. you are not walking away from me until you tell me what is going on with you.” Gerard looked back at him and smirked.

“Then your just gonna have to catch me then.” Gerard sprinted off.

“God damn it, things thing i do for you people.” Jasper said as he took of after Gerard.  He finally caught up with him.

“Okay” he said out of breath. “Whats going on.” Gerard looked at him.

“Nothing”

“Nothing my ass.” Jasper said starting to lose his patients. “Pendleton, i swear to god if you don't tell me what's going on, then maybe i'll go ask Shane or maybe Danny would know.”

He turned around as if he was going back to shane's house. Then he heard Gerard sigh. He turned around.

“Okay, i'm not good at telling if something's wrong with someone. But something is definitely wrong with you. So talk.”

He waited in ambition. Gerard looked at him and took a breath as if he were going to say something. Finally he said something.

“It's just….. after Danny got in that wreck…. i realized….how much she means to me… and i just….don't want to lose her again.”

He looked up at Jasper. Jaspers jaw was almost to the floor.

“Oh.. my.. god…” Jasper began to say  “So you're telling me... that you…. Gerard Pendleton…. have a crush… on Danny Stryker…”

Jasper's face lit up at the idea and that he had a new chance to make fun of his best friend. he started to yell at the top of his lungs.

“Danny and Gerard, sitting in a -”

“Shut.. up before i punch that smug look of your face.” Gerard said, his face turning a bright red.  

“Like hell i will! This is amazing!”

He could tell that Gerard was starting to get angry. Gerard rarely ever got angry, but when he did, it was nothing to mess around.

“Just one more.” Jasper asked, hoping he could make fun of him one more time. Gerard glared at him. Jasper open his mouth to say something else when Gerard tackled him to the ground.

“If you ever tell anyone about this…. i will end you. Do you understand?”

Jasper nodded.

“Good, then i won't have to kill you.”

Gerard stood up and helped Jasper up. They stared at each other for a moment and Jasper busted out laughing.

“And what's so funny, the fact that i totally kicked your ass back there or the fact that i like Danny?” Gerard said starting to laugh also.

“Just funny that you like her. Cause you two would actually make a cute couple.” Gerard rolled his eyes and started kinda laughing.

“You really think so?” He said as Jasper caught up to him.

“Yeah dude, you two are like the same person and you get along so well.” Jasper said. “

Well she gets along with you two pretty well to.” Gerard said questioning Jaspers logic.

“Yeah we all get along well, but i don't know you two just seem to have a different relationship. Not necessarily better, just different you know. I mean, come on, even i notice it.” Jasper assured him.

“Mm...Whatever.” Gerard said rolling his eyes. They continued to walk, now in silence. They walked on until they came to Gerard's house.

“Do you want to hang out for a while. I don't think my mom's home and she wouldn't mind.” Gerard asked from the porch.

“Nah, i got to get home and check on my brother. Jeff came home drunk again so… yeah”

“Okay” Gerard said. Jasper watched him go into the house then started heading home. He completely forgot about Timmy until now so he started walking a little faster. He walked in the front door and saw timmy playing with his toys on the ground. _Thank god he's okay._ He bent down and sat next to his brother.

“Timmy, did Jeffery ever come out of his room.” He waited for a reply and all he got was tears.

“Jeffy came out and he yelled at me. And he broke my toy then hit me..” Timmy cried.

“What! He hit you? Where?” Jasper was starting to get really mad.Timmy pointed to his cheeks where there was a big red splotch and a small scrap. _That assholes. Thinks he can do whatever he wants._

“Okay, it’s okay. I'll take care of it. Where is he now.” Timmy pointed towards his bedroom door. Jasper got up and walked over to the door. He swallowed hard, scared of what was going to happen. He took a deep breath and opened the door. Jeffery was lying on the floor either asleep or unconscious. Whichever one, he didn't care, he was going to get his revenge. He recited to himself one of his favorite Shakespeare quotes. “Revenge should have no bounds.”


	7. Chapter 7

Shane's alarm woke him up at 6:30.  
“Oh, i forgot, school is a thing” He groaned and hit the off button.  
He lay there for a moment, trying to decide if it was worth the effort to get up. He finally got up, got dressed and went downstairs to see what was for breakfast His parents and sisters had already gone. He pulled out some pop tarts from the pantry and put them in the toaster. While he was waiting he grabbed his shoes and backpack. Once his breakfast was done, he grabbed them from the toaster and left. They all met up at the same place everyday to walk to school together. Shane was the last to get there. As he walked up Danny smiled at him then saw the pop tarts in his hands.  
“Hey thanks for breakfast” She said as she broke one in half and ate it. “I love how you're always thinking of me.” She said her mouth crammed with pop tarts.  
“Yeah cause that was my goal.” He said and they started walking.  
Half way there Danny, who was walking in front of them turned around and started walking backwards.  
“We've entered the eye of the Douchicane” she said as she nodded behind her to a group of popular kids who thought they ran the school.  
“You really jumped the shark on that one.” Gerard said snickering.  
“Shut up Pendleton” She said back doing a surprisingly good impression of Jasper. “I do not sound like that” Jasper immediately said.  
“I do not sound like that” she said back continuing to impersonate him.  
Shane started to laugh at the fact that Jasper was starting to get frustrated he loved when Danny did stuff like that because Jasper looked so funny when he got angry. The group of popular kids looked towards them.

  
“Uh oh.. We've been spotted.” Danny said whirling around only to bump straight into Jack Cavanaugh.  
He practically ran the school. Head of an elite school club that “Protected” the school from drug dealers and people like that. She looked up at the giant towering over her.  
“We know you did it Stryker.” he boomed. She rolled her eyes and looked back at her friends.  
“What are you accusing me of now?” He bent down to her level and got in her face.  
“I know you had something to do with spray painting ‘dick’ into my locker.” She was enjoying seeing him mad.  
“I would never” she said in her most innocent voice.  
“Bullshit! i know you did it.” he glared at her. So she glared back at him  
“That sounds like a good idea, I wish I had thought of that. But we aren't the only people in this school that hate you, go look somewhere else.” she tried to walk around him but he just shifted and blocked her once more.  
“Dont walk away from me, I know you did it!!”  
Now she was starting to get a little scared. He was a good five six inches taller than her and weighed twice as much as her. If got angry enough he could really do some damage. She tried to walk around the other way, but he grabbed her arm. In an instant Gerard had wedged himself between them. “Lay off Cavanaugh” He let go of her arm and turned on Gerard. “Maybe you want to be next!” They were literally saved by the bell and immediately joined the river of people going into the school

  
As they walked up to the school and mounted the steps. They were greeted with the usual name calling. They even the nerds with the coke bottle glasses who got beat up on a daily basis would join in on the shunning and name calling. They didn't care though they had better things to do than bother with those idiots. Shane was really the only one that kept them from getting pummeled to death by just walking in the building. He was pretty tall for a guy. They were all a little taller than average but Shane also had his confident looks. He was the least weird and shy looking of them all. He still dressed in a lot of dark colors but he had shorter hair that was a normal length for a guy and he looks more normal than the others.. They made fun of Gerard because he was kind of tall and lanky with dyed black longish hair and dark clothing. And Jasper wasn't any better, he had hair down to his chin and wore black eyeliner to school to freak out girls and guys alike. I didn't help that he had a lip and eyebrow piercing. So they were picked on for that. Danny was picked on not just by girls, but guys to. She was picked on by girls because she didn't wear the normal bright colored skirt and blouse, instead she wore her dark jeans, t shirts and combat boots or converse. And she was picked on by guys because they thought she was trying to be like them, so they had to prove to her that she wasn't as good as them. So Shane liked to walk with them because the thing he hated the most was seeing them get beat up.

  
“Bye losers, I'll see y'all at lunch.” Danny said as she went into her history class. “Yeah, see you idiots later.” Jasper said as he went into his Trigonometry class across the hall.  
Shane and Gerard made their way to their English class across the school. They sat down at their table in the corner of the room.

  
A few hours later, they all met up in the courtyard where they ate. They all sat under one of the huge elm trees in the shade. Lunch was the one time of the day where people didn't bother them as much. Mostly because everybody stayed in their own little area of the courtyard and no one dared to go into some else's area. They sat on the grass on the far side of the elm. Originally they sat at the table, but were kicked from it so they decided to sit in the grass. They had an hour and a half long lunch, and they always finished eating within the first ten minutes. So for the other hour and twenty minutes they talked, drew, played card games, or make up their own little games. Danny was laying on the really low hanging branch that they sat next to, hanging her arm off the side. Gerard was sitting next to her on the branch. Her and Gerard were playing their game that they made up. They would look at people having conversations and put in their own dialogue. Shane was sprawled out on the ground using his hoodie as a pillow reading one of Gerard's and Danny's comic books that they had written. While Jasper was drawing random stuff on Danny's arm. They sat there enjoying the nice weather and the calmness of the courtyard. It was a nice change compared to the hectic hallways and loud classrooms. They sat enjoying this, until lunch ended.


	8. Chapter 8

Danny woke up the next morning at her usual time,pulled on her clothes, shoved her boots on, and went down stairs, however something was different. She didn't hear her brothers talking or the smell of food cooking. It was dead silent except for a few quiet voices of people she didn't recognize. She got to the bottom and rounded the corner, only to see two people, a man and a woman, both dressed in suits sitting on the couch. Across from them was John and Marc. Marc was gripping the arm of the chair with such force it looked like it was going to rip. John was sitting there nervously playing with his hands.  
“Hey, ummm… what's going on?” she asked.  
She’d never seen them act this strange. And who were these people in their house. She walked closer to them. Marc quickly turned to her and was about to say something when John stopped him. The two official looking people stood up. The women came over and greeted herself as Ms. Jenny Hayes. She shook Danny's hand and looked her up and down. Danny pulled away as quickly as possible and went to stand over by her brothers.  
“Whats going on, who are these people?” she whispered to John.  
John said nothing. She looked at Marc. Marc obviously wanted to say something but John looked at him and he stopped.  
“Danny” Ms.Hayes asked in a sweet calm voice. “would you mind if we went up to your room really quick?” Danny looked at her suspiciously.  
“Umm.. i would prefer if you didn't. I don't really like people in my room.”  
Ms.Hayes laughed and headed up to her room anyways. Danny quickly looked at John then dashed in front of the the two going up the stairs.  
“Danny, why don't you want us to go in your room?” Ms. Hayes asked sounding a  
little concerned.  
“I just told you i don't like people in my room.”  
Ms.Hayes looked at her, her once soft smiling face had turned hard as stone. Both of them pushed their way past her and they went into her room. She ran down the stairs.  
“What the hell is going on here John. Who are those people. What do they want?” She stood in front of John demanding to know what was happening. He didn't answer, but his face was red and his eyes were watery. “Marc?” she looked over to him, pleading for an answer. She saw fear, sadness, worry and a mix of a thousand other emotions. She went into Chris’s room.  
“Chris, Chris!”  
“What” he replied.  
“Who are these people, there in my room looking through my stuff and John and marc are acting really weird. Chris’s eye immediately widened. He jumped out of bed and ran to the living room.  
“Is that who i think it is up there.” He said to John. John was pacing the floor. He looked up at Chris and nodded.  
“Oh my god” Chris exclaimed. “No, they can't!” Chris was hysterical.  
“Yes they can.” John said “They have all the papers.”  
Danny had enough of this secrecy, she blew up.  
“Okay! Somebody is going to tell me what the fuck is going on here or I’m gonna start screaming!” John walked over to her and sat her down.  
“Danny, these people here… the’re from the Child Protective Services… they...they” he couldn't finish his sentence. And for the first time in her life, she saw him cry.  
He didn't need to finish his sentence, Danny already knew what he was going to say. She shot to her feet.  
“NO!! They can't! They can't!!”  
She bolted to the door but was greeted by a policeman. He was as wide as the door frame and he looked like a bodybuilder. Terrified she tried to run to the back door to escape. But she was to slow. The officer grabbed a hold of her arm and dragged her back to the couch and sat her down. The two officials came back down.  
“Why do you have to do this to us?” John asked Ms. Hayes as she came back down. Ms.Hayes already had the response ready.  
“For one, she sleeps in an attic -”  
“It's a finished attic” Danny interrupted. Ms.Hayes ignored her.  
“Two she is growing up with no parents with Three guys, who happen to be in a local gang. She also hangs out with said gang sometimes, and gets involved with crimes, and fight.” John stood up.  
“She doesn't fight though, and if she's involved with a crime she just happens to be there.” He said. She continued  
“Yes, but it still happens. She also gets, what you guys like to call ‘jumped’ quite often. She had to go get stitches at the hospital from a stab wound at one of these fights that she ‘wasn't fighting at.’” John tried to say something but before he could she kept on talking.  
“Look, I'm sorry, its a painful thing what has to happen here. But this is just not an acceptable environment for a teenage girl to grow up in. She could get injured, raped, or even killed growing up in here.” She turned to Danny. “Why don't you go pack a bag okay, we will get the rest of your stuff later.” Danny nodded. “Good girl.” Ms. Hayes replied with a smile.  
Danny nodded at her and gave her a huge grin and went upstairs to her room. Like hell i'm packing a bag and going with you bitch. She did pack a bag, but instead of going down stairs, she opened her window and peered out of it. She looked down to the ground. Too far to jump. She turned around looking for something she could use to climb down. Her sheets. She quickly tied them together, tied them to her bed post and threw them out the window. She climbed out the window and looked down. She looked looked back in her room. This would probably be the last time she ever saw it. She was about to start climbing when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Shit, they're coming. She quickly tried to climb down. She got halfway when she heard rapid footstep out of her room and down the stair. She decided to jump, she landed in the bushes. She jumped up quickly and battled her way out of the bushes, only to be greeted by the gorilla dressed as a cop. He grabbed her arm and started dragging her to the car. She started kicking and screaming. She bit the cops giant hand, he let her go. She scrambled away but she felt his arm wrap around her waist and sling her over his shoulder. She screamed bloody murder and punch and kicked, desperately trying to be let go. She looked up and saw John and Marc struggling to hold Chris back. If they had let him go he would have killed the cop, or at least try to. The cop practically threw her in the car and closed the door. She crawled across the seat and tried to open the door. “Damn it!!” she screamed. This kind of car did not open from the inside. She banged on the window attempting to break it. She kicked the window as hard a she could with her boots on. The window cracked. “Yes!” She kicked it again and the window shattered. She got halfway out when someone grabbed her feet and pulled her back in. The cop got in the car and started driving. As they pulled out she saw all of her brothers crying, Chris ran after the car, she and him were extremely close, she didn't want to leave him. She banged on the back window, until he was out of site. They passed by the place they all met together to walk to school. All three were standing there at the stop sign, waiting for Danny to show up. They stopped at the stop sign wait for the parade of other cars to go by. She ripped a piece of paper out of her backpack and grabbed a pencil. As quickly as she could she scribbled down four things. Help me. CPS. - Danny. She banged on the window to get their attention and pressed the note against the window. She saw there eyes grow wide and worry spread across there faces. The cop peeled away before they could approach the car. The cop turned around and looked at her with cold eyes.  
“I Have had about enough of you today. Sit down, Shut up, and stop complaining.” She did not.  
“Where are we going?” she demanded.  
“You'll find out.” He said calmly. After about fifteen minutes they pulled into a place that closely resembled a prison without all the guards though.  
“Well I might as well be a serial killer by the way you guys are treating me.” She said through clenched teeth.  
The cop dragged her out of the car and brought her into the building. The inside was painted in bright pinks and yellows, to the point where it hurt her eyes to look at the walls, so she looked at the floor. The girls in their walked around like they were in juvie or something. She didn't want to become like these people, she had to break out somehow. Hopefully they got her note at the stop sign and they would do something. But what would they do. It's not like she could just walk out. She knew deep in her mind that they wouldn't be able to get her out, but she hoped. She was greeted by another women. She tried to take her bag from her and Danny pulled away. The lady showed her to where she would be sleeping. It looked like the orphanage from Annie. Oh hell no. She was not staying here for one single night. She didn't know how it was going to happen, if they were gonna come get here, or if she was going to have to do this alone. But all she knew, was that she was getting out. Tonight.


	9. Chapter 9

Gerard looked at his clock. 6:43. Two minutes till he had to get up. He was not looking forward to today. He just had a feeling it wasnt going to be a good day. 6:44. He closed his eyes and tried to shake the feeling. What was wrong though. Everything had been normal. Nobody at school was acting strange, no of the guys were acting strange, he couldnt quite put his finger to it. 6:45. The shrill sound of his alarm filled the room, rendering him unable to hear himself think. He got up and mashed to button on the clock. He got up and went to his dresser. On the top of the dresser, there was a picture of all of them Jasper, Shane, Danny and himself leaning against a chain link fence, outside the club of the place of their first preformance. He remeber how nervous everybody was.. Danny had come up with the idea of hiding their identity to make it more mysterious to who they were, and plus she pointed out that no matter how good their music was, if they knew it was them they wouldnt have any fans. So in the picture they were wearing cool masks and makeup to hide their faces. beneath it was a photo of them after the show. They were all so tired, but Danny was still so pumped. That was the happiest he has ever seen her. He smiled to himself, and set them back down on the dresser, and went out to get breakfast. His mom had left already, so it was up to him to find something to eat. He looked through the pantry and just settled on cereal. He grabbed the box, opened it, and walked around the house eating while looking for his converse. when he found them and put them on, it was almost 7:00. He grabbed his backpack and went out the door. he got halfway to the stop sign where they met and realized he was still holding the cereal box. He thought about going back but assumed Danny would eat half of it anyways so he kept walking.

He was the first to the sign. Usually Danny was first but she was probably just running late trying to see how much food she could shove into her pockets before she left in her usual hurry. Shane got there a few minutes later. As he walked up he gave him a weird look. “Um, why are you holding a cereal box.” Gerard looked at him as he shove a fist full of cereal into his mouth. “I forgot i was holding it, and came here with it.” He said sputtering through the cereal “ and I assumed that Danny would eat half of it” “Yeah she most likely will eat all of it” Shane said. They all knew that Danny was so unorganized and in a hurry that half the time she would forget to eat. After about 5 minutes they saw jasper heading towards them. “Wheres Danny?” was the first thing he asked when he got close enough. He crossed the street and looked down the way that Danny should have been coming. “Is she sick?” He asked. “Even if she were sick she would still walk us to school.” Shane commented. It's true this was pretty strange. “Should we go down there” Gerard asked. “No let's give her a few more minutes. Shane said. So they waited a few more minutes. Each passing seconds growing a little more concerned. There was dead silence. Then they heard a blood curtailing scream that ripped through the air. They looked to each other. “What the -” Gerard wasn't able to finish his sentence because they saw a cop car with a busted window barrel down the road. It halted to a stop and they looked at it suspiciously. Then they heard a banging from the inside and saw a piece a paper pressed against the tinted window. They were just able to make it out. Help me. CPS. - Danny. Then the car took off. They looked at each other in shock. “Oh no.” Shane said as he started to walk towards the Strykers house. Gerard and Jasper caught up. “What the hell does ‘oh no’ mean. Do you know something?” Shane drew in a breath. “Danny was telling me that the CPS has been trying to get her taken away ever since her parents died, but they never had proof that she was in a bad environment, until now.” Shane explained. “Hold on.” Gerard said grabbing Shane's arm. “You knew that the CPS was after her.” “Well yeah, but she didn't want to make a big deal out of it.” Gerard scoffed and Shane shook lose from his grip. “So where are we going” Jasper butted in. “To see where they are taking her” Shane said. “What use is that going to be”Jasper replied ‘They've already taken her” They were already in the front yard. Shane walked up to John and Chris who were still in the yard. Gerard and Jasper stayed back and let Shane talk to them. After a few minutes, Shane turned around an walked back. Shane walked quickly passed them grabbing their sleeves and leading them back. Gerard spoke up“Whats going on what are we going to do, we cant just leave her.” Shane whirled around on him. ‘Oh we’re getting her back alright. They’ve taken her to the Foster home down the road there. Its about a 40 minute walk. 30 min if we run.”

  
“Okay what does that do for us” Gerard asked.

“you didn't let me finish, there's a gate around it. Basically it's a prison. No one gets in, no one gets out.”

“So then why are you telling us this, if we can't get in” jasper commented.

“ We’re gonna have to break in. It's risky but we can't let Danny corrupt in that hell hole. We got to break her out tonight.”

“Really!” jasper said getting excited. “Finally i get to break in somewhere.”

“Yep, so i say we skip school today. Go back to your houses and pack you bags. Get clothes, any essentials you might need. Oh and get anything that might be useful to break her out. And get money. I don't care how, steal it from your parents if you know where they hide their money. And-”

Jasper interrupted him “Wait, why do we need money and clothes.”

“Well we are technically breaking into what is almost like a prison, to break out an inmate.” And if they catch us, or see us, which they most likely will. It's not like we can go back to school the next day and have everything be okay.”

“So we are running away.” Gerard said with a slight waver in his voice.

“Basically, yes.” He said as he turned to Gerard. He instantly felt sorry for him. His mother would be heartbroken when she came home and found out her son, the only thing that had kept her living had run away. “Look, Gerard, if you don't want to do this, that fine, i would understand its-”

“No… do you really think i would let Danny rot in a place like that, what do you think happens to girls like her in places like that. I know it's not exactly good. So we're doing it, i don't care what it takes.” Gerard said with defiance.

“Okay then we meet at my place later than. let's say 30 minutes. We meet up and we map out our plan.” Shane said.

“Okay” Jasper said.

Gerard sighed. “Okay.”

“Let's do it.”

They split up and went their different directions. Gerard quickly ran back to his house. He mounted the porch steps and ran into the house. He went to him room and dumped out all his school supplies onto his bed. He grabbed his notebook that he and Danny drew in and put it back in the bag. He grabbed a few pairs of jeans, some shirts, and jackets. He put on his Doc Martens, and put his converse in the bag. He went into his mother's room and found her roll of money. He pulled out $40 and shoved it into his pockets. He grabbed his bag and got ready to leave when he remembered the pictures. He went back to his room and grabbed the pictures off of his dresser. He decided to write his mother a note so she wouldn't freak out. He went to the kitchen pulled out a pencil and paper. We can't leave Danny, i love you, i will call. - G. That should do it. he grabbed some tape and stuck it to the door. He turned around and looked back at his house. He started walking, he could imagine his mother coming home and reading the note that her son had run away. He pushed the image as far from his mind and pulled out the picture of all of them against the fence and remembered why he was doing this. For Danny.


	10. Chapter 10

Jasper walked into his empty house. Honestly he was excited about this whole little save the damsel in distress thing going on. Plus he had always secretly wanted to break into something. So win-win, we save Danny from prison and i get to break in somewhere. He dumped all his stuff out of his backpack onto the floor of the bedroom. He packed up shirts, jeans, jackets etc. He went into his dad's room and stole 20$, then decided to steal his brothers money as payback for what he did to timothy. He took all of the 60$ that his brother had and shoved it into his backpack. He grabbed a pencil, and wrote a note to his family.  _ I'm out. Oh and by the way, Jeffrey, i stole all your money.  _ He topped it off with a smiley face and taped it to the front door. He could imagine their faces when they got this and laughed. 

He made his way over to Shane's. He opened the garage door and as usual gerard was ensconced in the bean bag and shane was sprawled out on the couch. He plopped down in another beanbag chair and put his bag in the middle. 

“I got 80$” 

“Seriously, dude that should last us forever.” Shane said. Gerard sat himself up and shoved his hand in his pocket looking for his money. He dropped the 40$ in the center. 

“I got 40” He said. 

Shane pulled out a wad of money and placed it in the center.

“60$. This should last us awhile wherever we are going to be.” 

Gerard pitched in.“Don't we need to pack Danny a bag?” 

“Oh right, duh. But how are we gonna do that.” 

Jasper's hand shot up in the air. “Oh pick on me, pick on me.” Shane waved for him to keep going.

“I walked by Danny's house on the way over her, and she had tied her sheets up to make a ladder in attempt to escape. We can climb up it and pack her a bag.”  “Okay, let's do it.” Shane replied. 

“Also we need to plan on how we are going to bust her out.” 

“I vote we dress Jasper up as a girl and he can go undercover.” Gerard said. “I think you would look beautiful in a pink skirt.” 

Jasper sneered at him and went on with his plan. “We could bust in there at like 2:00 in the morning, everyone will be a sleep and it'll be a lot easier. It's only 9:20, we can stake out the place and figure out where we want to break in and how. That's like 13 hours by the time we get there, to plan it out.” They thought about it for a second. 

“Okay, i guess it's all we got, we got to go with it.” 

They headed over towards Danny’s house. When they got there, as Jasper had mentioned, there was a rope of sheets hanging from the window. They went up to it and played rock paper scissors for who had to climb up and get her stuff. As usual Shane lost. 

“Ugh, why do you guys always make me do this.” He complained as he looked up at the rope.. “Wish me luck.” he said as he started to climb the side of the  house. 

“Okay, Break a leg!” Gerard shouted. 

“Yeah real helpful when i'm up 30 feet in the air.” Shane yelled back. He finally made his way up to the window and climbed in. He grabbed her ammo bag and packed it with the first things he saw in her drawers, he didn't know what she needed so he threw in a little bit of everything. He went to her closet and pulled out her converse and threw them in their to. He looked to find her songbook but couldn't find it.  _ She must have it with her. she would rather die than leave that behind. _  He finally packed her bag. He threw it out the window for them to catch then climbed down himself. 

They walked away from the town in silence. Bags slung over their shoulders, money in their pockets, and the ambition to get Danny out. 


	11. Chapter 11

“So here is where you will be sleeping.” the lady who identified herself as Ms. Mejia. said pointing a finger to an old bed that looked like it had never been touched She looked at Danny as if expecting a thank you, or some kind of happy response. Danny continued to glare at her. She hadn't said a word since she got there, maybe if she didn't talk they would leave her alone. It didn't help.   
“Why don't you unpack?” Ms.Mejia questioned. Danny looked at her. Because i’m not staying long enough to need to unpack.   
“I’d like to keep things organized.” She said lamely. Hoping that she would buy it. She looked at her for a while.   
“ Well, okay, if that's how you like it.” She said, sounding a little suspicious. “We have dinner in about 30 min, you should be there, the other girls need to meet you. Im sure you will all get along very well.” Fuck. She forgot that there were other people here.  
Ms. Mejia showed her to the living area. It was a huge room, painted bright blue and green with matching tables and chairs scattered around. The bright colors were starting to hurt her eyes. She looked around the room, trying to find a space that wasn't surrounded by other girls. She walked over to a window in the corner and sat down. Perfect. She had a full view of the courtyard. She looked around the yard trying to figure out how she was going to scale the giant chain link fence. It was pretty high and she was fairly certain she saw barbed wire looped around the top of the fence. She sighed, she was never getting out of here. She heard a voice and then foot steps coming towards her. She turned around to see a girl towering above her. Seriously, how tall is everybody here. She stood up and the girl was still a good 3 inches taller than her. Danny looked at her.   
“You new here?” The girl boomed' down at her. Danny’s eyes narrowed. She new this type of girl. Thought they ruled the fucking world.   
“Yeah, so?” Danny snapped back. She wasn’t gonna get pushed around by some popular chick cliche.   
“Okay so maybe you don;t know how it works around here. You see we-” Oh no. Danny was not having any of this.   
“Let me stop you there sweet heart. I don't think you know how I work. You are not gonna come over here and tell me to move. I wasn't bothering you, so you don''t need to be bothering me. I don't give two shits if you have some weird daily ritual where you sit here every day, you can find somewhere else to go. I am not moving.” She sat back down and turned to look out the window again.   
“I… I… Did you…. just.” The girl stammered apparently not grasping the idea that someone stood against her. Her friends were all the sudden really quiet.   
“Excuse me!!” The girl almost screamed. Danny turned to look at her. Her face was red with anger.   
“You do not-” She started. Danny was having fun making this girl angry, so she cut her off again.   
“No, you do not come over her and tell me what to do princess.” Danny said jumping to her feet, almost yelling in the girl's face.   
She stared at her then gave her the biggest shit eating grin she could muster and turned back around. But this time when she looked out the window, she saw 3 figures running along the fence. She tried to get a closer look when the girl turned her around and slapped her. To her surprise, it actually kind of hurt. She drew her arm back, ready to show her how to actually get in a fight. When she saw Ms.Mejia. She got an idea. Immediately she slammed herself into the window and crumpled to floor holding her cheek in her hand, and screamed out. The girls friends quickly left and the girl turned around saw Ms.Mejia and turned back to Danny on the floor, Danny winked at her and went back to her screaming. Ms.Mejia came over and helped Danny up.   
“What happened over here?!”   
She said still holding onto Danny's arm. The girl started to explain what happened, but Danny needed to get out of there quickly so Ms.Mejia wouldn’t hear the whole story. So Danny called upon her horrible acting skills and managed to shed a tear or two.   
“Let's get you to the infirmary.” Ms.Mejia said. Perfect. The infirmary was the only room in the whole building that had opening windows, she noticed while passing by on the mini tour to her bed.   
They shoved their way passed the girl who just stood in shock, even Danny was shocked that someone could be so stupid as to believe that, but she was grateful. They passed by her bed.   
“Can I get my stuff.” Danny asked, making sure to add a sniffle or two.   
“Of course honey.” Ms.Mejia said. They continued on to the infirmary. The nurse in their got her settled in one of the beds close to the door.   
“Actually do you think that i can stay by the window, i would like some fresh air.” Danny asked. The nurse sighed and said okay, they moved down to the end of the room. She got in the bed and looked out the window as the nurse put ice on her cheek.   
She saw it again, the three figures. This time they were slightly crouched down like they were hiding from something. She watched them, intrigued to who they were. They stopped and dropped down to the ground. She was confused to what they were hiding from, but saw a security guard walking by. As soon as he passed the one of the figures stood up. She recognized him immediately by his gawky frame. It was Gerard. She gasped. The nurse looked at her wondering what happened. “It just….. hurts” She said trying to sound convincing. She turned back and saw the other two figures standing. One shoved Gerard so she assumed that it was Jasper and the other one shoved Jasper. So that was Shane. She felt her heart jump. They were here…. here, trying to bust her out. She saved her cheers for when the nurse left. It like forever waiting for her to go. But when she finally did. She knocked on the window, she didn't think it would work but she still tried. The nurse peeked her head from around the wall.   
“What are you doing” She asked suspiciously, she started walking over to the window. Shit she’ll see em’. She had to think of something fast.   
“What, nothing, just, trying to find the right pitch.” The nurse gave her a confused look. “Yep,” she continued knocking. “I write music, i'm trying to find a pitch.” She said grinning, what she said made no sense but that's all she had.   
She held her breath and begged that she was as stupid as the other lady and would buy it. She was. She turned around and walked back to her office. She carefully undid the latch and opened the window. She grabbed her songbook out and ripped out a page. She made it into a paper airplane and threw it out the window. She thought it was going to go farther than it did, but the minute it got out the window it dropped straight down. She grabbed another piece of paper and wadded it up and threw it at them. It also didn't go far. Okay, plan B. She looked around for something else to throw. Her eyes landed on a pillow. She reached over to the bed next to her and snagged the pillow from the bed next to her, looked around to make sure no one saw her, and threw it as hard as she could out the window. She couldn't really see their faces because they were in the shadows, and it was starting to get a little dark. But she saw their heads snap up to the window. She saw the figure who she believed to be Shane point up to the window.   
Yes! She stuck her hand out the window and waved trying to get their attention. Shane jumped up and down in excitement and waved back. They all started waving at her excitedly. She smiled at them even though she knew they couldn't see her through the tinted window. The figure who she thought was Jasper looked like he was trying to say something. She turned around to make sure that the nurse was still in her office and she opened the window a little more. It made a shrill squeaking noise that could have woken the dead. She immediately panicked and shut the window as fast as she could. She heard the footsteps of the nurse. She pretended to be asleep when she came in. The nurse walked over to her and looked out the window. Danny's heart stopped, she prayed that she wouldn't see the boys outside. If she did security would drag them away and she would then never see her family again, or her best friends again. The nurse continued to look out the window, then turned to look at Danny and walked off. As soon as she was gone she looked out the window. The boys were gone, she didn't see them. She opened the window again and gave them a thumbs up. She waited but saw no response. Maybe they got caught. maybe they - . She saw someone move. She let out a sigh of relief. She had thought that they had been caught for a minute. She sat there watching Gerard pull out what looked like a rope and she got excited, they were really gonna do this. She sat there grateful that her best friends were going to risk everything for her.


	12. Chapter 12

The three guys had walked for 40 minutes until they finally saw the foster home where they took Danny, over the horizon. Shane and Jasper had been talking non-stop the whole time. Normally he would have joined in, but he remained quiet. Gerard tapped Shane's arm to get his attention.   
“Shane. That's it right?” Shane looked up and nodded. They all went quiet as their nerve over came them.   
“I can't believe we are actually going to do this.” Gerard said.   
“Why wouldn't we do it.” Jasper asked  
Gerard didn't answer him. He was starting to have doubts that this insane scheme of getting her out was going to work. He wasn't regretting trying. But the other guys seemed confident that this was going to work, but he was starting to question their plot.   
They crossed the street to where the foster home was.   
“Where do we want to go?” Jasper asked to no one in particular. Shane thought for a second.   
“Let's go in the woods and hide out there for a while.” Gerard was confused.   
“Wait why are we hiding out in the woods. Why not just go behind the fence?” Shane opened his mouth to say something but Jasper cut him off.   
“Because idiot, it's broad daylight. If we go behind the fence, the fuzz will catch us.” Shane agreed with him and they headed into the woods. They found a small space where they were hidden from the guards, but they could still see the home. They put their bags down and shane grabbed a stick and drew out the home, complete with the fence and guards. Gerard felt like they were all kids again playing army. Except Danny wasn't here to lead them. They grabbed some twigs to represent them and positioned them where they were planning on entering the building.   
For a few hours they discussed how they were going to bust Danny out. Gerard had brought up the subject of where they were going to go and how. They had plotted out how to get her. Just not exactly how to escape or where to go. They never really came up with an answer for that.   
“I guess we’ll just improvise.” Shane finally said.  
They sat in the woods talking, and doing what they usually do until it was time to move in. Once the sun was starting to go down they grabbed their backpacks and quietly made their way to fence. They crouched in the bushes for a second let the one guard on duty pass by. They started to make their way around the building. They were looking for a window or door that they could actually open, the building had plenty of windows, but none actually opened, or the ones that did weren’t big enough to get in. They saw some big windows not to high above the ground that opened, but they could see people through them.They kept walking around, they had started to crouch down because they heard the guard coming around again. Jasper pointed out a window on the second floor that looked like it opened. The guard was now in sight. They dropped down to the ground and waited for the guard to pass. As soon as he passed Gerard stood up to get a better look at the window.   
“Hey dude, next time we have to do that” Jasper said. “don’t fall all over me.” Jasper said giving Gerard a little shove. Gerard looked at him ready to combat, but shane punched Jasper to be quiet. They sat there looking at the window momentarily.   
“Pendleton,” Jasper whispered. “Find that rope that we brought” Gerard reached down in his backpack and pulled out the rope.   
“Okay, got it. But how are we gonna get it through the window and have it stay.” “What do i look like a genius,” Jasper said. “This is why we need Danny here, we can't really seem to function properly with one of us gone.” he added softly, and sounded serious about it.  
“Hey, were those pieces of paper on the ground when we got here?” Shane asked.  
Just as Jasper and Gerard looked over they saw what they were certain was a pillow being thrown out of a window.  
“What the fu-”Jasper started.  
They saw a hand waving at them and they realized that it was Danny. Of course, only Danny would throw a freaking pillow out of a window. A wave of excitement hit them and they started waving back at her. Jasper looked around to make sure the guard wasn't anywhere.   
“Stay there!” he shouted.  
Not certain that she could here him. They saw her start to open the window more. They heard a loud squeak and then the window shut immediately.   
“Get down!” Gerard said quietly.  
They laid on the ground and held their breath, hoping that they wouldn't be caught. They waited there for a minute, then they saw the window open slightly again. Danny's hand shot out and gave them a thumbs up. They all let their breath out.   
“Well that almost got us thrown in jail. Thanks Jasper.” Gerard said.  
“What did i do?” he asked, sounding like a whiny five year old.   
“You yelled and made her open the window.” Gerard said accusingly.  
“well… well we didn't get caught.” JAsper said back turning back to the window.   
They waited a few minutes studying the situation they were in.   
“Well, any ideas to how we are gonna get her out?” Shane asked.  
“Wait, you don't have an idea!” Jasper yelled.   
“Shh… and no, you can't expect me to do everything for you.”Shane said almost irritated.  
“Okay yeah, but we expect you to do most things.” Jasper Said in return.   
“Okay well i'm sorry that i can't come up with everything.” Shane shot back.   
This was going way too far.   
“Hey hey princesses calm down. You're both pretty. And i've got an idea.” Gerard said. “Okay so -” He was cut off mid sentence by the guard. They had forgot that he was just circling the building. They immediately dropped down just before the cop turned his flashlight on. He searched the area and saw nothing, so he continued to circle the building.   
“Crap i forgot about him…. okay so next time he comes around i say we jump the fence and get up against that wall there, it's dark and he hasn't been using his flashlight so he won't see us. Once we’re there we wait for him to pass again and then we throw the rope up to Danny and hopefully she’ll tie it around something sturdy and she can climb down.” They seemed to agree on this. 

The officer made his round again and as soon as he was out of sight they we up and over the fence.   
“Oww!!!” Shane said as he got to the top. He was the first one to go. “There's barb wire up here.” They forgot that part. “Hand me your leather jacket.” Shane said to Jasper. Jasper threw him his jacket and Shane laid it on top of the spikes. One by one they climbed over. They made it to the wall just as the cop came around again. They looked up to the window and saw that it was open. Gerard threw the rope and it hit the wall with a soft thud “Dammit” He tried again. Again it hit the wall. He cursed under his breath as he threw the rope up again. This time, it soared through the window. The rope started to fall again when it stopped, someone had caught it. Danny stuck her head out the window and smiled.   
“Gerard!” She said, her face lighting up.  
He smiled back at her.   
“Come on, climb down.” he said, urging her to move quickly.   
She ducked back in the window and he heard her grab her bag. She was halfway out the window, when Jasper grabbed the back of his collar and pulled him into the dark.   
“Gerard? Where did you go?” She was starting to sound worried.   
Just as she said that, she was lit up by the guards flashlight, she jumped back in the window and shut it. Gerard stood in horror, he couldn't let Danny get busted. His mind was racing, and he froze. Shane and Jasper grabbed his arms and dragged him to the other side of the building. While the guard was busy they could try to get in another way.   
They found the series of windows that they saw earlier which opened. They looked in and saw none in their Shame and Jasper volunteered to go inside. So shane got on jasper's shoulders and climbed in the window. Jasper then got on Gerards shoulders and shane pulled him in. They had gone in through the kitchen. Which just happened to be on the opposite side of where they needed to be. Gerard was to stand down there just in case they got caught, someone could bail them out. 

* * *  
Jasper was pulled into the kitchen and didn't waste a minute heading toward Danny. They quietly made their way threw the kitchen and into the living room, which was now deserted. Jasper peered around the wall and saw two ladies walking by. He signaled to SHane and they flattened themselves against the wall. As soon as they passed Jasper who had been surprisingly quiet this whole time, said something.   
“It's like mission impossible huh.” He said to Shane.   
Shane shushed him and they kept moving. Jasper genuinely looked like he was enjoying this. They made their way through the bright pink halls and found themselves in the main sleeping areas. They took one step but the tile floors echoed every step they took. THey got down on hands and knees crawling towards the end of the room. 

After what felt like an eternity to get to that room, they had finally made it to the infirmary. They stood up and they gasped at what they saw. Danny walking towards them, with guards holding on to her arms, she was barely touching the floor. They were more dragging her than walking her. She looked at them and for the first time ever since they knew Danny, they saw defeat in her face. She looked at them with tears in her eyes. The guards dropped her and started walking toward the two boys. They looked at each other and ran. THe cops chased them through the hall waking up all the girls in the process. Danny used their distraction to her advantage. Since all the girls were up and blocking the center aisle, she took a detour. She lept onto one of the beds and ran across the mattress tops. She slipped through the doors following behind the boys and the cops, making sure not to be heard, for fear she would be caught again. She saw the door to the kitchen and went in. She went to the open window and stuck her head out. SHe gasped out of breath.   
“Youre here.” She said down to Gerard. He looked up.  
“Whats going on, where Jasper and Shane.”   
“Umm they've hit a dilemma, leave a message after the beep.” She said going back through the window.   
She couldn't leave them behind, no matter how tempting. She went through the halls and saw them running down the hall. As they got closer she reached out and pulled them into the spot she was hiding. Jasper opened his mouth to say something, but she placed her hand over his mouth before he could make a sound. The cops ran past them. As soon as they knew they were out of earshot jasper started talking.  
“Dude, they actually fell for that.?”   
“Yeah. They’re not the brightest here.” Danny said out of breath. “Let's go.” 

* * *

Gerard waited outside, anxious for them to return. He was starting to get worried the security guards had started to search the outside much more thoroughly. He heard footsteps coming to the window and flattened himself against the wall.  
“Gerard?” he heard Danny's voice he came out and looked up at her.   
“Oh thank god, you guys are okay.”   
He heard them talking for a brief moment and they helped her out the window. She dropped herself to the ground and immediately shoved herself into his arms, and embraced him as if she would never let go. He wrapped her in his arms and enjoyed the brief  
Jasper stuck his head out and gave him an irritated look  
“Okay lover-boy, let the damsel in distress go, and let's get the hell out of here.”  
They jumped out and threw Danny's bag with them. They all grabbed their stuff and started climbing the fence. Shane and Gerard made it over and Jasper had just jumped down when Danny got to the top of the fence.She looked over her shoulder and saw the guards running towards the fence. She was frantically trying to get over the fence before they got her, and forgot about the barbed wire in the process. She made it over just as they were about to grab her foot and she fell off the fence. They boys quickly picked her up and started running to the train tracks. Once they got there they ran a good distance to make sure that the guards hadn't followed them there.   
They continued walking further until they saw the light of day. By that time the trains had started running so they had to abandon the tracks for now. They hiked into the woods, and found a nice spot of clear ground. Once there, they dressed Danny’s deep cuts on her hands and leg from the barbed wire. They sat for a while trying to grasp what they had done, and what they were going to do next. They decided to put it off till they woke up and one by one they fell asleep.


	13. Chapter 13

Shane was the first one up. The first thing he did was check the area to make sure no one had followed them or seen them. He went back to the railroad tracks to see if they were searching there. He turned around and walked a little ways back to their makeshift camp when he thought he faintly heard voices down the tracks. He tried to brush it off as nothing, maybe it was just one of the guys getting up, but something kept eating at him to go check it out. He turned around and went back to the tracks. When he got there he heard the voices, they were getting closer. Shane started to get nervous. The guards in the building had got a good look at him and Jasper, maybe they were looking for them along with Danny. He ran back through the woods to where the rest were sleeping. He thought about letting them sleep. Maybe they would still be asleep by the time those people got here, and they wouldn’t find them. No. He couldn’t do that, if they woke up and said something they would get caught. He decided to go wake up Danny first, she would make the least noise, hopefully.  
“Danny. Danny get up.” he nudged her to get up. She opened her eyes and looked at him.  
“Wh-” She started.  
Shane put a finger to his mouth and whispered to her what was going on. She nodded and they went to go wake Gerard. Danny gently shook him awake. When he woke up he opened his mouth to say something but she shushed him. and motioned for him to get up. Now here was the tricky part. Geting Jasper up, without him talking. They all went over to him and Danny nudged him and whispered his name to get him up. Jasper was a deep sleeper so it was gonna take more than that. She started shaking him harder, desperately hoping he would awaken, for the voices were getting a little closer than they would like them to be. He finally rolled over and shoved himself up.  
What the he-” he said loudly.  
She quickly put her hand over his mouth, and they all looked over to the voices. They had stopped. Great. Just what we needed, Shane thought to himself. They grabbed Jasper and their bags and as quietly as they could walked deeper into the woods. They had taken of their shoes so that the leaves wouldn't make as much noise. They continued through the forest frantically trying to get away from whoever was back there on the tracks. The saw a clearing and went through it. They stopped to see if someone was following them. They heard footsteps. And they were close to. To close to have enough time to escape again. They hid behind some trees and held their breath. They heard them come into the clearing. Shane turned to look at danny who was hiding in the tree next to him. He saw the two men come into the clearing. Of course, they were dressed in the guard uniforms. Just what he was afraid of. They got out of the last situation by a miracle, he was starting to doubt that they were going to get out of this one. His mind started racing, the thought of losing Danny and getting thrown in jail were starting to overcome him. They started making there way to where danny was hiding. He looked down at his feet. There laid a pretty good sized rock. He picked it up, ready to use it to protect Danny. He was about to jump out and hit one of them over the head, when he heard Gerards voice.  
“Hey, uh, what’s going on.” Gerards said. The cop turned around and looked at Gerard. Shane stood there dumbfounded. What was he doing, this was going to get them caught! The cop looked Gerard up and down and finally spoke.  
“What are you doing out here kid.” The cop asked suspiciously. Gerard paused a moment, then finally answered back.  
“Me and my friends were just out here playing army, and i was hiding. I thought you were my friends….. who.,, who are you anyways.”   
“We’re from the foster home down the way, one of the girls got away with two other guys…. You haven’t happened to see them anywhere around here, have you.”   
“No sir. Haven't seen em’. YOur from the foster home you said.”  
“Yes, that's right”  
‘Well for just a foster girl, you seem to be making a big deal out of this.”  
“Well it's illegal what she’s done.” Gerard nodded and tried to think of something else to say when they heard a twig snap. Shane looked over at Jasper and he stood there in shock. He looked to Shane. “I'm sorry.” he mouthed to him. The other cop started walking over to him. Immediately Gerard intercepted.   
“Oh, that must be one of my friends now. We’d better get going.” The cops looked at his smiling face suspiciously. They stood there for a second and slowly started to make there way back where they came from. They all stood there in silence until they couldn't hear them anymore.   
“What the fuck was that Pendleton.” Shane said incredulous giving him a shove.  
“What, it worked.”   
‘Yeah but how did you know it was going to” he continued.  
“Well they saw you and Jaspers faces, but they never saw me so they wouldn't have recognized me.”   
Shane didn't have a response for this. He stood there trying to come up with a flaw in his actions, but couldn't. His planned actually worked fairly well.   
“Whatever.” He finally said. “Let's keep movin before they find us again. I think the road is through there and we can follow it to the next town.”  
They walked threw the thick woods. Fighting back branches and bushes until they finally made it to the road that Shane had told about. They looked in both directions trying to decide which would get them to a town faster. Normally they wouldn't care how fast they got there, but Danny had some pretty bad cuts and they need to get some supplies to make sure she didn't get an infection. They picked left and they started walking. 

“Why is everybody so quiet.” Shane asked. They all looked at him. He could see the dark circles under their eyes.  
“Because dumbass, we’ve been up all night and we only had two hours of sleep. So we are focusing on not falling asleep in the middle of the road, and not talking.” Danny shot back in an irritated voice. “And i'm trying not to scream at the pain of these cuts. The one on my leg feels like it's ripping open every time i take a step.”  
He cringed at the thought and understood why they weren't talking. They kept walking in silence toward the town. The only time that there was sound was when the occasional car passed them by. It was a longer walk than they all had hoped for. The sun had come up now, and was beaming down on them. They all put on their jackets even though it was fairly warm. They didn't want to get sunburnt or tan. They had passed a sign that had indicated that the town was only two miles ahead. They started walking a little faster. They were all starving and thirsty, and in need of a break. They had been walking for over three hours and they were already tired before. They came over a hill and saw the town. Finally. They crossed a bridge and headed towards a small fast food place and went in.   
When they entered, the cashier looked at them funny. They couldn't figure out why but when they saw their reflection in the window, they were covered in mud and dirt, and Danny looked like she had got in a fight with a bear.They all took turns going to the restroom to clean up and when they got back they sat down at one of the tables. Shane put down his 60$, Jasper put down his 80$, and Gerard put down his 40$. Danny shoved her hand in her pockets trying to see if she had anything. She pulled out a wadded up candy wrapper, a piece of paper with what looked like homework, and what looked like a 5$ bill. She flattened out the bill and set it down on the table.   
“Thats 185$!” Danny said excitedly. “That should last us a few weeks.”   
“Yeah, but what do we do when we run out.” Gerard pointed out.  
“Well, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” She replied dismissively.  
“Yeah, but that bridge might come sooner than you think. We have to buy a good deal of things to be able to survive as runaways.” He replied back.  
“Speaking of, what all do we need to buy?” Jasper said.  
“Well, we need some food, water, some first aid supplies….. hm… what else?” Gerard said. “And anything in their that we desperately need.” THey nodded. It sounded reasonable.  
“Can we get some food here at least, we’re all starving.” Danny was right, none of them had had anything to eat or drink since they left.  
“No, as much as i want to get some food, we can't be eating out all the time, Gerards right, this money isn't going to last us forever, we need to be careful with it.” They all sighed, Shane was right, they needed to save up. They all got up and left the restaurant, trying to find a convenient store around. They walked around aimlessly, looking everywhere for some kind of store that could have what they need. They finally came across a corner store and went in. Danny pulled a crumpled piece of paper out and smoothed it down. It was their list that they had made. She started reading out the list.  
“Food, water, first aid kit, matches, blanket, tarp…. Tarp? Why do we need a tarp?”  
“For a make shift tent if we need one stupid.” Jasper said.  
“Oh.. Okay” Um let me see where was i.. okay. Tarp, knife, rope, and….pencils. Gerard, why do we need pencils, i have about a million of them in my bag.”  
“Yeah but we go through pencils pretty fast and remember what happened last time you ran out of pencils.” Gerard said.  
“No” She had no idea what he was talking about  
“Well correct me if i'm wrong but you broke into my house at three in the morning saying that you didn't have anymore pencils and came into my room… at three in the morning! and stole my pencils, then went home… at three in the morning!!” Gerard said.  
“So…”  
“Do you not see the problem with that.”  
“No, not really.”  
He stared at her for a few moments, then decided to give up. He was never going to win the war against Danny.   
“Okay well the point is, we need more pencils, no matter how many you think you have… you need more, trust me.”  
They walked around the store and found everything that they needed. And went to check out. Before they got up to the register, they decided that it was not good to have them all go up there, if those cops came in asking anybody if they had seen them, he could point them out. So they made Gerard go up there while they waited outside. It seemed like forever waiting for him to return, but when he finally did they immediately ripped the bag of chips open and started eating, they didn't realize how terribly hungry they were until they started eating.  
“Hey, guys. The guys at the counter said that there was an old abandoned barn back in the woods, right through there.” Gerard said pointing at a spot in the forest. “And he said that no one ever goes out there. So maybe we should head out there and check it out.”  
“Mhhm. And how did you find out this information. Did you tell him that we were hiding out from the cops.” Jasper questioned.  
“No, i just told him we were looking for a place to go camping, and he told me that the shed is a good place.”  
“Okay, and just how do we get there?” Danny asked.  
“Like i said its right over there in those woods behind a few of those trees.” He said pointing again.  
“Okay well, there are a lot of trees over there Gerard. So how are we going to find the right ones.”  
“I dont know just look i guess.”   
“Okay, if you say so, but when we are lost and sleeping on the ground, i'm gonna say i told you so.”  
He rolled his eyes and they kept walking. They got to the edge of the forest and they let Gerard take the lead. They walked through the bushes and thorns for what felt like forever, and they were sure they were going in circles, but Gerard was sure they were going in the right direction. They kept following him. Right as they were about to give up and stop following him, he found it.  
“THere it is!” He said excitedly. “Ha… i told you so.” Danny rolled her eyes.  
“Yeah yeah whatever.” She said smiling, punching his arm. He smiled down at her and they went into the old barn.


	14. Chapter 14

They opened the door to the barn, and it gave a horrendous squeaking sound. They all cringed, and continued inside. They closed the door behind them and the barn was overcome with pitch black darkness. Jasper pulled out the box of matches and lit a match, the floor was covered with old leaves and bugs. They trudged through the leaves and scoped out the place. It was fairly bigger on the inside compared to the outside. It was empty except for all the leaves and spider webs. The roof was leaking a little bit due to a branch that had fallen on it.

The match had gone out and they were in darkness again. They went back to the door and heaved it open.  
“Well, nice job pendleton, finding the crappiest place ever to stay.” Jasper said.  
“Well, if you want to sleep outside in the rain and cold, be our guest.” Gerard shot back.  
They stood looking in on the musty black building wondering what to do. It was their only shelter, but at the same time, it was covered in spiders and other various bugs which they decided would not be acceptable. They looked around trying to figure where they should start cleaning first. They walked all the way to the back and started kicking the leaf piles to the door. Every time they kicked one bugs swarmed out of the piles that were once their home.

Once the leaves were gone they started on the spider webs, they couldn’t see the spiders which made it ten times worse than the situation already was. After what seemed like hours of cleaning and running away from bugs, they had finally cleaned the old shed. They walked into the now clean shed and pulled the door shut behind them, it was getting darker now and the only light they had was coming through the hole in the roof. They plopped their stuff in the center and started unpacking what all they had. Danny immediately went for the first aid supplies and sat down against the back wall.  
“Hows your leg doing?” Shane asked walking over to her.  
“Well, apart from the gaping wounds, pretty good, how bout you?” She replied.  
She took the old bandages off revealing a wound much worse than they had expected. She touched it and fought to hold back a scream.  
“Here, this might help.” Jasper said, pulling out a bottle of whiskey.  
“Where the hell did you get that?” Danny said astonished.  
“Swiped it from the back of that convenient store. I thought it might come in handy.” He said as he smirked and handed her the bottle. She inspected the bottle, looked back up at Jaspers grinning face, sighed and opened it. She sat there for a second deciding what she should do, then she took a huge swig of it. She coughed as the bitter liquid burned her throat. She then looked to her leg and dumped some on her wound to clean it. She winced at the pain.  
“What the hell are you doing” Jasper said shocked.  
“What do you mean, i'm trying to clean the giant cut on my leg.”  
“ Yeah, but that's good whiskey, don't waste it on your leg.” Jasper said sarcastically.  
“Asshole” Danny whispered under her breath as he took the bottle away. She reached for the bandages and started wrapping up her leg again. She made an effort to stand up but had no luck. She tried again and managed to stand up while holding on to the wall. Gerard went and helped her walk to where the rest of them were sitting. She sat down in the circle and looked around. It was too dark she couldn't see anybody.   
“Ugh, i give up. I can't see y’all and i'm tired, so i'm just going to go to bed.” Danny said, irritated.  
“Yeah same, this blows.” Jasper said.  
They sprawled out across the floor using whoever was closest to them as a pillow. After a few moments of silence someone finally spoke.

“Y’all shouldn’t have busted me out” Danny said.  
“What, why.” Shane asked.  
“You guys all have lives and families that are gonna miss you, and not to mention that y’all are gonna be arrested when we get caught.”  
“So, that doesn't mean we were gonna leave you behind, you would have done the same for us.” Gerard said.  
“Yeah, for once Pendleton is right, but what do you mean when we get caught.” Jasper asked.  
“Well we can't be on the run forever”  
“Why not”  
“How would we survive Jasper, we only have a limited amount of money and we live in a shed!.”  
“Well, i've kind of planned this out. We can play our instruments on the streets, people love that, and they would give us money. And we could find gigs at clubs or bars, and get money that way.” Jasper replied.  
“As much as i would love to do that, one: all of our instruments are back home, and two: people would get suspicious to why 16 year old kids are begging for money on the sidewalk.” Danny said. “Plus we do have families you know, Gerard has his mom, who is probably freaking out at the moment. Shane has his sisters, you have your little brother, and i have my brothers, who we all need to get back to Jasper. I would love to do this whole runaway thing, but we just…. cant.” 

No one had a response to this, she was right, even Jasper didn't have a comment to this. They all thought of who they were leaving behind.   
“I hate to be the one to rain on the parade, but we just…..” she sighed. “I'm just gonna go to sleep now. She rolled over and fell asleep, leaving everyone else to think of what she had just said. They all stopped talking and sat in silence until they were all asleep.


	15. Chapter 15

“Hey Danny, what time is it?” Jasper asked.  
Danny looked down at her watched and smudged the dirt off the glass face. “5:30” she replied. Jasper sighed and looked around. Everyone else was still asleep. Danny would have been asleep to if he hadn't woken her up.   
“Okay, so what exactly did you wake me up at 5:30 for?” Danny said.  
“Well I thought a lot about what you said last night… about who we were leaving and what sacrifices we would have to make, but, Danny….. I am willing to make those sacrifices for you, and honestly, I think Gerard and Shane will agree. Yes we will be leaving our families and lives behind but….. face it, nobody like us there anyways, nobody appreciated us. We were bullied in school, and at home. And honestly i thought you would be on board with this plan. Out of all of us, you were bullied the worst. And not to mention your parents are-” He had crossed the line. Danny quickly stood up and tried not to act like her leg didn't hurt.  
“And that's the exact reason that I have to get back home to my family. I love them, and they love me. They already lost their parents, and you saw how messed up we all were from that, now i'm gone. They probably think that they are never going to see me again. I can't even imagine how they are reacting to this right now. If i didn't have a family that cared about me so much, yeah, i would probably do this. But i-” Danny quickly went silent.  
“Wha-”  
“Shh…” Danny put her hand over his mouth. SHe slowly got up and walked to the door careful not to make a sound. Jasper looked down and saw a shadow moving under the door.   
“There's someone there!” He mouthed. Danny nodded at him and she went behind the door. In that instance the door flew open. There stood an older man with a shotgun staring at JAsper who was standing in the middle of the room. Jasper stumbled backwards and tripped over Shane who immediately woke up.   
“What the” He said, but quickly stopped when he saw the man in the door.  
“What the hell are you kids doing in my shed.” He finally said. They both remained silent one waiting for the other to come up with and answer.   
“Sir, we uh… we were just here because we needed someplace to sleep.” Shane finally said. “My friends and I, well our tent was broken and we didn't want to stay out in the cold and we found this abandoned shed, and we thought.”  
“Well you and your friends thought wrong, now get out!” He barked at them.   
“Okay, okay we will.” Shane said calmly. Shane went over to pack up their backpacks and Jasper went over and kicked Gerard to get him to wake up.  
“What the hell man!?” Gerard shouted as he woke up.  
“Time to get up asshat, we’re being kicked out.” Jasper said as he pointed to the man. Gerard quickly got up and grabbed his backpack. When i stood back up he looked around.  
“Aren't we missing someone?” Gerard said on the side to Jasper.  
“She's behind the door, there probably already have her picture in the papers and maybe he’ll recognize her.  
“Or us.” Gerard replied. “They also saw you and Shane what if they put your picture in the papers too?”  
“Well he hasn't noticed us so far so i think we are good.”  
The old man came further into the shed to see what they were whispering about. Gerard and Jasper turned around to see him right in their face.   
“Less talking more getting our ass off of my property.”  
Over his shoulder they saw something move out from behind the door. It was Danny. She moved quietly trying not to get caught. But as soon as she stepped out of the door, the leaves under her feet crunched. The snapped around and stared at her.  
“You, hey you're the girl from the papers. Yeah the runaway. And theses must be the fine young men who rescued you huh.” DANny swallowed and slowly nodded hopping he would just let her got. SHe had no such luck.  
“Oh no, you arent leavin now. I wonder if i can get a prize for turnin you and your friends here into the fuzz.” She stared at him for a few seconds longer, then Jasper and GErard saw her get that flicker in her eyes when she was about to do something bad.  
“Well, only if you can catch us.” She quickly ran and shoved the man down and grabbed her backpack from shane and bolted out the door. The boys followed her out the door and they started running back to the street. THey heard the old man get up and start yelling but they kept running until the screaming died away. Thy reached the road and stopped to catch their breath. They all stared at each other for a few minutes then out of nowhere Shane started busting out laughing.   
“And what's so funny Shane?” Danny asked starting to kind of laugh herself.  
“Just, what you did, that was.. A little funny, I knew you were going to do something, i saw that flicker, but i didn't know you were going to do that!” They all started kind of laughing. The mood lightened for the first time since they left the foster home. And for the first time in a really long time they saw Danny truly smiling. Ever since her parents died, she hadn't really been the same. She would laugh and joke around, but here smile never really stuck around like it used to. Usually they never saw her without a smile, but ever since the accident, they rarely ever saw her with a smile anymore. But now she was smiling, and it wasn't going away. They all were a little surprised by this and ended up staring at her too long.  
“What…. Is there something on my face or what?” she questioned.  
“No, it's just nice to see you smiling again.” Gerard said. Her cheeks flushed pink quickly, she put her head down a little and they started walking.


End file.
